The Twins announced today that center fielder Byron Buxton has been activated from the disabled list, but he’ll be optioned to Triple-A as opposed to rejoining the active roster.
Buxton, 21, is regarded as one of the game’s top two prospects and made his Major League debut earlier this season. He didn’t hit much in 11 games before landing on the disabled list due to a thumb injury incurred when sliding into second base on a steal attempt. Buxton batted .189/.231/.270 in 39 plate appearances.
The Twins promoted Buxton earlier this year in an effort to receive more production out of the center field position, but since he landed on the disabled list, Aaron Hicks has come off the disabled list and excelled in the Majors. A former first-round pick and top prospect himself, Hicks has batted .316/.380/.526 in 32 games with Buxton on the shelf.
Buxton was called up from Double-A and had never played at Triple-A prior to his promotion, so a three-game rehab stint there was actually his first action at that level. Buxton went 5-for-12 while rehabbing, and he’ll now have the chance to get some further development time at the minors’ top level. One can imagine that he’ll have the opportunity to come back up in September when rosters expand (if not sooner), depending on his health. That could provide the Twins with a glimpse of a rangy outfield alignment featuring both Hicks and Buxton, which could become a permanent fixture in future seasons.
As a Minnesota fan, the way the Twins handle transactions (prehistorically) drives me nuts. While there are many examples of their futility in running a front office, this is just one here.
As was the case with Arcia earlier this summer, Buxton had 20 days to rehab before a roster decision was needed to be made on him. He played in 3 games (and quite well) before the Twins decided to burn an option on him. While hopefully Buxton never needs his 3 options, this was still a waste. If they didn’t want him in the majors yet, they could have kept him at AAA for the full 20 days, the decide to option him (or if a major league outfield injury between now and them, bring him up without an option gone). Like most of what you do, Terry Ryan…baffling. Baffling.
I think the idea is that they won’t need his options. But honestly, how many guys do we see that end up out of options that turn into stars anyways?
This seems pretty clear. The Twins aren’t worried about using up Buxton’s three option years, since he’s sure to make the team next season. (And if they do end up needing all three option years, it will be because he failed to develop as a player and therefore less concerning that they might risk losing him.) The Twins are, however, very worried about major league service time, as it affects arbitration and free agency status. Optioning him to the minors stops his service time from running. Basically, the Twins need to save money on him more than they need to save options.
I’m still a little surprised they didn’t wait two or three more days. As long as a player spends fewer than 20 days total on optional assignment during a season, it doesn’t count as an option year. If they waited (it’s not clear if Buxton spent one day on the 40-man roster before he was called up in June, so I’m not sure if it’s 2 or 3 days they’d need to wait), they could have waited until September to call him up and not use an option year. But I guess since they probably don’t care about the option year, that wasn’t a major concern, and one day can make a difference in terms of service-time rules.
Slightly surprised he didn’t do a short rehab stint at Cedar Rapids. He could have been activated to Minneapolis very quickly
I’m not sure sending him to low A would make sense in any event, but it obviously doesn’t deal with the MLB service time issue we discussed above.
It makes sense being Cedar Rapids is close and often used by the team for rehab assignments. Joe Mauer and Ricky Nolasco have both been there…typical point of rehab is to get timing down. One of the reasons MN sought out Cedar Rapids was for this ability
Ugh, again, you’re missing the main point. Every day he’s on a rehab assignment, that counts as MLB service time, potentially accelerating his arbitration and free agency eligibility. They don’t want to do that, whether it’s at Cedar Rapids or Rochester (where he went for his 3-day rehab assignment and where he is now on optional assignment).
The point is not that they didn’t want him to rehab at Cedar Rapids. The point is that they didn’t want him on a rehab assignment at all. Or in the majors.
Exactly.. They rehabbed him at Rochester because they knew they were going to option him there anyway. You nailed it with the service time concerns.. I am sure they are way more worried about that extra year of control than using an option. With his top prospect status and being such a hyped player he will get every chance to make it in the majors when he gets the call next year.. Gaining another year of control surely means more to the Twins than rehabbing for the full 20 days..
I don’t know what the “ugh again” is all about… you can just make a point and correct me, and that’s fine. I’m here to share and learn..sometimes I’m right or wrong.
I wasnt thinking about his clock…more the Cedar Rapids Kernels community.
Sorry…I actually didn’t read through every post. Given how many posts are on some threads…I don’t always do that.
A player can be optioned as many times as needed for their first year on the 25 man roster, further more he was burning service time on the DL and during his rehab time so now the FO is saving future clock time by optioning him to triple A, this was their best move right now and they made the right call optioning him as soon as they did . . .
I don’t know where you’r getting the 3 options from, but I’ve seen players yo-yo’ed up and down a lot more then 3 times from the majors and minors.
I think you’re a bit confused on options. A player generally gets three option years where they can be moved up and down as many times as needed in those years.
There is a service time clock that is different and used for arbitration, which can affect how many arbitration years a player gets. But the Twins didn’t burn a new option by sending him to AAA. They already had optioned him once this year so the year counts as an option year.
They can’t be down for more than 20 days, though. Anything further, I believe, constitutes burning an option year